Rottweiler Axel and Staffordshire bull terrier Bully were starved and denied water and exercise for weeks (file pictures of the two breeds pictured)

A mother and son have been jailed after they imprisoned two dogs in an attic and nailed it shut.Rottweiler Axel and Staffordshire bull terrier Bully were starved and denied water and exercise for weeks before they died in agony, emaciated and dehydrated, a court heard.Jamie Taylor, 31, and his mother Julie, 50, were each jailed for 16 weeks and disqualified from keeping animals for life after causing 'horrendous suffering' to the pets.

Caged: Julie Taylor and her son Jamie (right) were jailed for 16 weeks for allowing their two dogs to starve to death at their Bradford home

The pair ignored the dogs' barks for help and jobless Jamie refused to walk them because he was 'embarrassed' that they were too skinny.RSPCA officers tried to rescue the animals but were denied access and when police finally broke into the house in Bradford, West Yorkshire, they found an 'overpowering stench' of rotten flesh and the maggot infested corpses of the dogs in the attic.Jailing the Taylors, bench chairman Harry Atkinson told them: 'The dogs experienced horrendous suffering before their death.

Convicted: The Bradford house where Julie Taylor and her son Jamie locked up their starving dogs

'The dogs were prisoners upstairs in the house and they died from prolonged neglect. 'They had no access to the rest of the house, nor to the outside world.'Mr Taylor said he would be embarrassed to take his dogs outside because they were too skinny to be seen out walking.'Both pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the dogs and failing to keep them in a suitable environment.Jamie also admitted failing to exercise reasonable care and supervision.Prosecutor for the RSPCA Nigel Monaghan told Bradford Magistrates' Court that the charity organisation had been contacted by members of the public concerned about the care of the Rottweiler and staffy, but when an inspector called at the house Mrs Taylor denied access and claimed her son, the dogs' owner, was not there.